This is by far the best recipe for a “beer cheese” soup I’ve ever tried. I’ve made it multiple times and it’s always better than I remember. I really do recommend using an immersion blender instead of trying to ladle hot soup into a stand blender – takes 2 minutes to blend in the pot with no muss, no fuss.

Boy, did I do something wrong! Made this for beer loving Lutherans at a Lenten Wednesday soup supper, and brought most of it home! They did not like it. Neither did I! I feel it had too much thyme, perhaps.

If you do a taste test between draught Guinness and Guinness extra stout, you’ll see a huge difference. The draught just tastes like a standard dark beer. The extra stout is more deeply rich and flavorful. If draught is all you can find, I would make sure to get a very good Irish cheddar cheese (not the store brand), like Kerrygold or Dubliner.

Made the soup this evening. I cooked the soup in a deeper pot than specified, then used an immersion blender instead of a regular one. The texture came out wonderfully, and this saved the extra steps (and dishes) of transferring batches of soup into a regular blender.

Regarding the blender step(s), we purchased a stick blender years ago to facilitate pureeing my wife’s wonderful butternut squash soup. No more handling hot liquids, just perform the blending in the vessel. We wouldn’t be without one and have gifted one to each of our daughters. They love theirs too.

Hi Caryn, You don’t have to bring it all the way to a rolling boil, a simmer will do. But if you partially cover it without lowering the heat, you will increase the pressure inside the pot and cause the soup to boil. So, bring the soup to a simmer first, then partially cover it, then lower the heat to maintain a simmer. Of course, if you want to bring the soup to a full boil, and then reduce the heat, that will work too.